


Tattoos of Memories

by muffinsome



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muffinsome/pseuds/muffinsome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Tattoo artist!Ohno AU] Nino would normally resent being set up by Aiba, but it’s hard to be even a little bit mad when Ohno is so obviously his type.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tattoos of Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Green Day’s Good Riddance. Feeling nostalgic? XD
> 
> This is for my bb b in thanks for all the delicious cookies~ *__*

The first time Nino steps into a tattoo parlour, it’s not by choice.

“I want an animal tattoo,” Aiba says thoughtfully, flipping through a thick catalogue. The glossy pages filled with colourful patterns are wavy with wear, edges curled by the fidgeting of hundreds of nervous fingers. “I want something that represents me.”

Nino hums. He walks along the opposite wall, eyeing the artwork locked behind spotless glass into large stainless steel frames. Most are what you’d expect, maybe. A tiger jumping through flames. A shark swimming into a bleeding sun. A half-naked girl licking a knife while sitting on a motorcycle. The drawings are well done, the lines sharp and neat, but the images do nothing to appeal to Nino. 

Until the last frame.

“If you were an animal, Nino, what would you be?” Aiba asks.

Nino blinks and turns around to look at Aiba. “What?” But Aiba’s attention is still on the catalogue. He’s moved to a new one now, one that seems a little more recent.

“What kind of animal would you be?” Aiba asks again.

Nino shrugs, turning back to the frame of the wall. “A dog, maybe. Or a rat.”

“You’re not a rat,” Aiba protests, and Nino smiles.

On the wall is the image of a fish seemingly flopping on its side and hooked at the lip. It’s not the image itself that strikes Nino, however, but the style, the focus, the almost overwhelming attention to details. Nino generally considers himself an observant person, but if he were to look at a fish, would he even see all of this, everything that the artist has so meticulously reproduced? Instead of letting the eye rest on one main feature, it seems like every single detail commands attention, and Nino soon finds himself a little dizzy from staring too closely at the picture.

“Do you like it?” A voice asks quietly from behind him, and Nino startles, jumping slightly and turning away from the picture frame to find a small guy standing a mere foot away from him.

“Hi?” Nino says, backing away a little.

“That’s my fish,” the guy says, nodding to the drawing Nino was just looking at. “Do you like it?”

Nino glances back at the fish. “Ah. Yeah. It’s… It’s impressive,” he says. “Very detailed.”

The guy looks smug. “I’ll do you for free if you want,” he offers casually.

“Eh?” Nino chokes, and Aiba bursts into giggles.

As it turns out, Ohno Satoshi is one of the tattoo artists at the parlour, and also Aiba’s new friend. They met a few weeks back at the train station when they both missed the last train, and they ended up sharing a taxi and exchanging numbers. Nino is unsurprised and a little annoyed.

“What about me, Ohno-kun?” Aiba asks. 

Ohno shrugs. “I’ll give you the family and friend’s discount.”

*

Somehow, Nino ends up seeing a lot more of Ohno over the next couple of weeks – at Aiba’s, when they go out for a movie, at Jun’s dinner party – but it’s not until he goes out for drinks and it’s Ohno who shows up instead of Aiba that Nino realises he’s being set up.

Under normal circumstances, Nino would resent that, but really it’s hard to be even a little bit mad when Ohno is so obviously his type.

“Isn’t it painful?” Nino asks, tracing his fingertips over the intricate ink patterns on Ohno’s shoulder. Ohno’s design, without a doubt.

Ohno turns to watch and exhales in a soft sigh, his breath warm against Nino’s fingers. “I like it,” he says.

Nino hums vaguely and rolls around obligingly when Ohno nudges his hip. He pillows his head onto his crossed arms and closes his eyes as Ohno resumes his drawing with a marker that smells like bubble gum.

“I just don’t think tattoos are my thing,” Nino says, squirming a little as he feels the felted tip brush over a ticklish spot. 

There’s a short pause, just long enough for Ohno to draw a curved line down Nino’s thigh. Then, “That’s okay,” Ohno says. “This is better.”

Nino cranes his neck to glance over his shoulder. “Better?” he asks.

“Hm,” Ohno nods, then grins. “This way I get to do it over and over again.”

*

In the bathroom, Nino takes a moment to observe Ohno’s art in the mirror as Ohno adjusts the temperature of the water. It’s a little blurred, colours mixing together indistinctly where Ohno has pressed sweaty fingers into his skin, but the picture still come through. It’s a fox holding a fish into its mouth, its long tail curling around Nino’s hips and spreading all the way to the back of his right knee. If Nino cocks his hip a certain way, it feels like the fox will swish its tail. The image is rather striking.

“You really like fish, don’t you?” he says, giving the drawing one last long look before joining Ohno in the shower.

Ohno smiles. He looks smug, even with his wet hair flat on his head. It’s kind of a good look on him anyway.

“Let me see,” Ohno says, and Nino turns around, even as the colour starts drizzling down his legs. “It’s good,” he adds, his voice suddenly a little deeper.

Nino throws a look over his shoulder, but Ohno places a hand between his shoulder blades. When he pushes gently, Nino puts his hands up on the wall for support. 

“I think it’s good,” Ohno says again, his hand sliding down Nino’s back, no doubt following what’s left of the pattern as it quickly fades away.

“What next?” Nino asks, a small shiver running down his spine.

“Hm,” Ohno hums thoughtfully. He steps closer and his hand curls around Nino’s hip. He stays silent for a moment, considering, and Nino can tell his eyes are drawing imaginary lines all over his back. 

“I want to draw a sea horse next time. And a star fish. And a lot of coral.”

Nino laughs, already feeling a little breathless. 

“Yeah, I think that’s good.”


End file.
